PC shuts down requestThe Russellville Planning Commission unanimously struck down a rezoning request to change property on Vancouver Avenue from R-1 (Single Family Residential) to C-4 (Neighborhood and Quiet Business), a measure that if passed, would have allowed the opening of a Walmart Neighborhood Market in the area between West Main Street and West Second Place. Prior to hearing public comment, Commission Chairman Dennis Boyd announced that the commission rece...

Storm forces GOP to scrap first day of conventionTAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Republican officials abruptly announced plans Saturday night to scrap the first day of their national convention, bowing to the threat of Tropical Storm Isaac as it bore down menacingly on Florida. "The safety of those in Isaac's path is of the utmost importance," tweeted Mitt Romney, his formal nomination as presidential candidate pushed back by a minimum of 24 hours from Monday night to Tuesday. The announcement was made a...

Commission draws names for fall ballotThe Pope County Election Commission drew names for the November general election ballot draw on Thursday, setting the order for which regional, federal and a handful of county race candidates will appear on the ballot. Because no municipal races in Pope County are contended, the ballot draw applied only to the presidential, the U.S. Congress District 3 race, State Representative districts 69 and 73 races, five Justice of the Peace races, two c...

Romney seeks to refocus campaign on the economyLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney, seeking to refocus his presidential campaign on the economy after days of distraction, is promoting energy proposals aimed at creating more than 3 million new jobs and opening up more areas for drilling off the coast of two political battleground states, Virginia and North Carolina. Romney's pivot to energy, a key component of his jobs agenda, comes as the national debate has turned away from the GOP ...

Medicare in focus as Obama, Ryan trade chargesTHE VILLAGES, Fla. (AP) — Who loves Medicare more? President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's running mate vied for that distinction Saturday as Medicare became the latest flashpoint in a presidential campaign of flying elbows. The issue is dicey for both sides: Obama is steering billions from the entitlement to help pay for the expansion of coverage under his health care law; Paul Ryan is a champion of overhauling Medicare to make the tradition...

Romney wants running mate to play it safe, for nowGLEN ALLEN, Va. (AP) — Mitt Romney wants running mate Paul Ryan to play it safe. Ryan, the nation's most controversial budget architect, is often described as the intellectual leader of the House Republican caucus. But Romney's presidential campaign headquarters in Boston seems, for now, to prefer that the 42-year-old father of three talks about camping and milking cows instead of the fiscal proposals that made him a conservative hero. Ryan, w...

Convention host cities gear up for trafficTAMPA, Fla. (AP) — During this summer's national political conventions, workers in downtown Tampa and Charlotte will face throngs of pedestrians snaking through intersections, evening commutes snarled by street closures and the threat of unruly protesters. For waiters who expect big tips from delegates, the transportation headaches should be worth it. Some accountants and bankers, though, are more likely to fire up their laptops and work from ...

Arkansas Democrats: GOP wants gridlock in Legislature NORTH LITTLE ROCK (AP) — As they try to prevent a Republican takeover, Arkansas' top Democrats said Saturday that GOP leaders want to nationalize state races in this year's election and make the state Legislature as gridlocked as Congress. But most Democrats at the party's annual convention and fundraiser brushed aside worries that the state Legislature could fall to Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction. Democrats hold a majorit...

No contested races for City CouncilAll races for the Russellville City Council will be uncontested on the November ballot after only one candidate filed for each position. Four alderman will return to the council — Mark Tripp, Randall Horton, Martin Irwin and Garland Steuber — while the other half the current council will be filled with fresh faces following the January departure of aldermen Kevin Freeman, Ron Knost, Burke Larkin and Paul Northcut. Unless they drop from the rac...

Ryan paid a higher federal tax rate than Romney WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to their federal taxes in the last two years, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has paid a lower federal tax rate than his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan. Ryan, R-Wis., paid an effective federal tax rate of 15.9 percent in 2010 and 20 percent in 2011, according to tax returns released by the Romney campaign Friday evening. In 2010, Ryan and his wife reported an adjusted gross income of just over $215,0...

Council approves varianceThe Russellville City Council approved a 20-foot-wide street variance at the Riverstone subdivision Thursday, overturning the Russellville Planning Commission’s July 23 denial of the variance. The council voted unanimously to approve the variance that will narrow the streets of the subdivision at Riverstone, between Sheppard Drive and Skyline Avenue, to two 10-foot travel lanes and two two-foot shoulders as opposed to the typical city standard...

Romney: Never paid less than 13 percent in taxesGREER, S.C. (AP) — Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney declared Thursday he has paid at least 13 percent of his income in federal taxes every year for the past decade, offering that new detail while still decrying a "small-minded" fascination over returns he will not release. President Barack Obama's campaign shot back in doubt: "Prove it." Campaigning separately, Romney and running mate Paul Ryan also scrambled to explain their view...

Biden vs Ryan: No. 2s key in White House campaignDENVER (AP) — Paul Ryan likes exercise, budget charts and the Green Bay Packers. Joe Biden likes train rides, foreign policy and talking — a lot. In some ways, these presidential ticket No. 2s could not be more different. They are separated in age by nearly three decades, were born to families in different regions of the country and have views on opposite ends of the political spectrum. But in other ways, the 42-year-old Republican congressman...

Cityscape (Aug. 16, 2012)Animal control In July, the city’s animal control office responded to 238 calls, with 20 wild animals and 12 after-hours calls. The department brought in 73 dogs and 48 cats, adopted out 25 dogs and 18 cats, euthanized 42 dogs and 35 cats and returned five dogs to their owners. The department collected $565 in adoption fees and $75 in fines. Fire The Russellville Fire Department responded to 196 calls in July, bringing the department’s number ...

US economic recovery is weakest since World War IIWASHINGTON (AP) — The recession that ended three years ago this summer has been followed by the feeblest economic recovery since the Great Depression. Since World War II, 10 U.S. recessions have been followed by a recovery that lasted at least three years. An Associated Press analysis shows that by just about any measure, the one that began in June 2009 is the weakest. The ugliness goes well beyond unemployment, which at 8.3 percent is the hig...

Romney seeks to undercut Obama's likability leadCHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Mitt Romney is portraying the outwardly calm President Barack Obama as a man seething with animosity and power lust as the Republicans seek to undermine one of the Democrat's greatest campaign strengths — his personal likability. The president's re-election effort, Romney said Wednesday, "is all about division and attack and hatred." Obama, Romney added later while campaigning in Charlotte, is an angry man who "will do o...

GOP convention shines spotlight on FloridaTAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tampa is a hot property for the Republicans this year, and that doesn't just mean the 90-degree temperatures in August that will begin to sauté national convention delegates every time they step outdoors. There's political heat here, too. The site of the Republican National Convention Aug. 27-30 is situated at the west end of the Interstate 4 corridor, home to the largest concentration of swing voters in the largest swing st...

Some below poverty line don't qualify for MedicaidMIAMI (AP) — Sandra Pico is poor, but not poor enough. She makes about $15,000 a year, supporting her daughter and unemployed husband. She thought she'd be able to get health insurance after the Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama's health care law. Then she heard that her own governor won't agree to the federal plan to extend Medicaid coverage to people like her in two years. So she expects to remain uninsured, struggling to pay for h...

Ryan's wife comes from storied Oklahoma Democratic family MADILL, Okla. (AP) — Like her husband, Janna Ryan, the wife of Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, is a Washington veteran after years working as a legislative staffer, attorney and lobbyist. Now a stay-at-home mom, she comes from a family rooted deep in Oklahoma politics — of the Democratic sort. In the days since Mitt Romney introduced her husband as his running mate, the woman who grew up Janna Christine Little also has been t...

Debate joined on Medicare; Romney, Obama go at itWASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama in person and in TV advertising Tuesday of cutting Medicare "to pay for Obamacare," launching a strong counterattack to Democratic charges that he and running mate Paul Ryan would radically remake the popular health care program that serves tens of millions of seniors. The charge drew a blistering response from Obama's campaign, which labeled the ad dishonest and hypocritical. Obama ...